EurEau newsletter - May 2021
EurEau News
EurEau elects next President, Chairs and board
EurEau re-elected Dr Claudia Castell-Exner as president for the next two years at the May General Assembly meeting.
We also elected Committee co-Chairs for each of our three committees:
- EurEau Drinking Water Committee (EU1): co-Chairs Riina Liikanen, Finland (FIWA) and Miquel Paraira, Spain (AEAS)
- EurEau Waste Water Committee (EU2): co-Chairs Michaël Bentvelsen, the Netherlands (VEWIN, Unie van Waterschapen) and Sarah Gillman, United Kingdom (Water UK)
- EurEau Economics and Legal Affairs Committee (EU3): co-Chairs Denis Bonvillain, France (FP2E) and Gari Villa‐Landa Sokolova, Spain (AEAS).
The full Executive Committee will be composed of Alain Gillis (Treasurer) (Belgaqua, Belgium), Luigi del Giacco (Utilitalia, Italy), Klara Ramm, (IGWP, Poland), Mircea-Valentin Macri (ARA, Romania), Iztok Rozman (CCIS-CPU, Slovenia), Mariano Blanco Orozco (AEAS, Spain) Per Dalhielm (Svenskt Vatten, Sweden) and Stuart Colville (Water UK, United Kingdom).
A big thank you to the outgoing team! All parties take up their new positions from 01 July 2021.
Our press release is here.
EurEau Annual Report 2020
The EurEau Annual Report for 2020 is now out. Catch up on our work on water legislation from the Drinking Water Directive to how our waste water is treated to how our environment is shaped by water, we covered a lot of ground!
You can read it here.
EurEau publishes new position papers and briefing notes
We published several position papers and briefing notes in the last month.
Position paper on the Precautionary and Innovation Principles
Position paper on Best Available Technique Reference Documents (BREFs)
Position paper on the Security of Information Systems (NIS)
Briefing note on drinking water supply and leakage management
Briefing note on Sludge Management
Briefing note on waste water and PFAS
Briefing note on nutrients and waste water management
EU2 virtual meeting – Austria in mind
The summer EU2 meeting took place in virtual Austria on 20-21 May, covering the revision of the UWWTD, the circular economy and EQS.
EU3 virtual meeting
Our EU3 colleagues met virtually again on 11-12 May. Critical infrastructure, the INSPIRE Directive and the final touches on the Value of Water Services paper were on the table.
EU news
Water and agriculture
CAP reform: Super trilogue fails to find compromise
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the EU’s financing programme for agricultural activities.
The interinstitutional negotiations on the future CAP broke down without a final result. The key stumbling block was the so-called Eco-schemes, and more precisely the percentage of direct payments that should be earmarked for environmentally-friendly agricultural practices. While Parliament calls for 30%, Member States wanted to limit this amount to 20% only. The Portuguese Council presidency aims to achieve agreement by the end of June.
We operators believe the current proposals are too weak to protect Europe’s water resources and live up to the Farm-to-Fork ambitions.
Water and the environment
Bathing Water Directive: publication of the report
The European Environmental Agency the report on European Bathing Water Quality 2020 on 1 June. With 93% of bathing waters in good quality we wish you a happy swimming summer!
Single Use Plastic Directive: first guidance paper released
The SUP Directive introduces restrictions and EPR schemes for a number of plastic products including wet wipes.
The by this directive is now public. Pre-vetted wipes, entirely made of natural polymers that have not been chemically modified (viscose, lyocell) fall outside the scope. Professional and industrial uses are excluded. However, if a wipe is sold in business-to-consumer channels, it is covered by the directive.
The guidance on the calculation of the cost of cleaning up litter is still pending, as well the secondary legislation on the labelling of certain products.
If disposed through the toilet, wet wipes can cause clogging of pumps and the blockage of pipes, thus, causing substantial economic and environmental damage.
Ecodesign Directive: EurEau responds to the public consultation
The European Commission intends to revise the eco-design directive as part of its sustainable products initiative. The goal is to make products more durable, reusable, repairable, recyclable, and energy-efficient. The initiative will also address the presence of harmful chemicals in products such as electronics & ICT equipment and textiles.
In its reaction to the , EurEau calls for eco-design measures on the release of micropollutants and microplastics and the application of the Polluter Pays Principle.
REACH Directive: response submitted
We responded to the IIA on the REACH Directive revision. You can read it here.
CLP Regulation: response submitted
EurEau reacted to the IIA roadmap the Revision of the EU legislation on hazard classification, labelling and packaging of chemicals, also known as the CLP Regulation.
Commission publishes the Zero Pollution Action Plan
The Commission pledged to address the pollution of water resources in the context of the European Green Deal with its Zero Pollution Action Plan (ZPAP), announced last year. Now we see how the Commission proposes to do this.
EurEau largely supports the Action Plan, and we are pleased to see that it pulls in many other recent initiates under the Green Deal and beyond, but it does lack actual concrete actions to achieve the goals.
You can find our recommendations to the Commission here.
Water as an essential service
Resilience of Critical Entities Directive: Parliament and Council discussions ongoing
The will set requirements for critical entities, including water operators to increase their resilience against man-made and natural disasters.
The European Parliament’s LIBE committee held a first exchange of views at the end of May. The rapporteur, Michal Šimečka, presented his draft .
NIS Directive: EurEau finalises position
The is closely linked with the RCE Directive and sets a range of network and information security requirements that apply to operators of essential services (including DW and WW operators) and digital service providers.
The EurEau General Assembly approved the EurEau position. The rapporteur of the European Parliament’s ITRE committee, Bart Groothuis), presented to the Commission proposal. The shadow rapporteurs submitted their own proposals by 2 June.
EU Strategies
Sustainable Textiles Strategy: Commission launches public consultation
The strategy aims to develop a textile industry where products are designed to be durable, reusable, repairable, recyclable and energy-efficient. The water sector is particularly concerned by the increasing release of microfibres, the use of biocides in sportswear and the use of other hazardous chemicals including PFAS.
Following the publication of the (and the ), the Commission has now launched the .
Other news
IB2020: Assess, Learn, Share and Improve!
The EBC offers water- & waste water utilities in Europe and beyond a leading improvement - and knowledge exchange programme.
Participants gain insight in potential improvement areas, industry best practices and innovations through an extensive benchmarking exercise and via knowledge exchange events.
If your water- or waste water utility is looking for insight into its own performance, international references and/or best practices, register to the EBCs’ improvement programme!
More detailed information about the programme can be found in the Call to Register and/or via
If you have questions, mail:
HotspotReuse
HotspotReuse is the first collaborative platform in the world, open to everyone, free of charge and dedicated to water re-use loops.
Users can sieve through hundreds of different projects from all over the world, find examples, technical information, ask questions and eventually communicate with other industrial parties using their feedback to help bring new projects to life. Users can also add their own information. .
Communications news
Events
18 June 2021 – Webinar organised by UVCW and AQUAWAL on drought (in French)
23-24 September 2021 - Bulgarian Water Association’s 10th jubilee conference on Water Loss Reduction. The BWA is calling for interested parties to present an applied-scientific report, attend or be an advertiser. More:
28 September –1 October 2021 - NORDIWA 2021: Digital conference & exhibition. FIWA, DANVA, Norsk Vann, Samorka and Svenskt Vatten invite all water professionals with an interest in waste water, sewerage and climate change mitigation and adaptation to join NORDIWA 2021. Read more and register here: (the conference language is English).
2022 – CEOCOR; hosted by ÖVGW in Vienna, Austria. (postponed from 2021).
Postponed to June 2022 - from August 2021 - Water Safety Conference in Narvik, Norway. More.
11-15 September 2022 - ; Water for smart liveable cities in Copenhagen, Denmark.
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